Sales performance is under pressure: HubSpot’s latest sales statistics show that 54% of sales professionals say selling has been harder this year than before, while only 27% of sales reps report consistently hitting quota. Those numbers make it more important to track both outcomes and the activities that lead to them.
This guide explains what sales performance is, how to measure it with leading and lagging indicators, and how reps and teams can improve it.
Table of Contents
- What is sales performance?
- Why Sales Performance Matters
- How to Improve Your Sales Performance as a Rep
- How to Improve Sales Team Performance
- How to Measure and Track Sales Performance
- Frequently Asked Questions About Sales Performance
- Getting Started
What is sales performance?
Sales performance is the effectiveness of a salesperson or sales team in turning sales activities — such as calls, demos, follow-ups, and pipeline management — into measurable business results. It includes both outcomes, such as revenue, win rate, and quota attainment, and the activities that drive those outcomes.
Looking at both sides helps managers diagnose different problems. A rep who meets activity benchmarks but misses quota needs different coaching from a rep who closes deals but is not creating enough new pipeline. Sales performance management compares these outcomes and activities over a defined period, enabling leaders to improve results across reps, teams, and over time.
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Why Sales Performance Matters
Sales performance provides leaders with a practical view of business health because sales results influence revenue forecasts, staffing, coaching priorities, and operating plans. When performance slips, missed quotas can weaken revenue projections, and inconsistent pipeline data can make forecasts less reliable.
Measuring performance before quarter-end gives managers time to respond. They can coach specific skills, rebalance pipeline coverage, revisit territory assignments, or adjust activity targets while the period is still open. Sales Hub brings pipeline, reporting, and forecasting into one place so leaders can spot changes earlier and act on them.
How to Improve Your Sales Performance as a Rep
Improving individual sales performance starts with the behaviors a rep can control: how they prepare, prioritize time, use data, build skills, and respond to coaching. The following tactics focus on those levers.
1. Have the right mindset.
Mindset affects how consistently you prepare, follow up, and recover from setbacks. Instead of treating a missed target as proof that you cannot succeed, focus on the next action you can control.
A simple visual reminder of your goals — such as a vision board or written goals — can help you reconnect with why you sell and what you are working toward. It will not replace skill or process, but it can help you stay focused through difficult stretches.
2. Improve your business acumen.
Business acumen — understanding how a company makes money, operates, and measures success — helps you connect your product or service to a prospect’s priorities. The more you understand a buyer’s business model, industry pressures, and financial context, the more specific your questions and recommendations can be.
Build that knowledge by reading credible business publications, company filings, earnings materials, and industry research. Look for how similar companies operate, what challenges they face, and which metrics matter to them.
Mintis Hankerson of HubSpot says, “You need to understand your customer’s business before you even reach out to them or draft the first email. As a sales rep, the key to success is to understand how your prospect is approaching their buying process, what their intentions are, and how you can accommodate and fit into that.”
3. Get organized.
Block time for prospecting, follow-up, deal work, and administrative tasks so important work has a place on your calendar. These sales productivity strategies can help you protect selling time, while tracking sales efficiency can show whether your process is turning time and resources into results.
If organization is not your strong suit, ask an organized teammate to share their workflow. If manual administrative work is taking too much time, Sales Hub can automate routine sales work so you can focus on conversations that move deals forward.
4. Review the metrics that matter to your role.
Most salespeople have a quota plus activity or pipeline metrics that show whether they are on pace to meet it. Learn which measures your team uses, how they are calculated, and which ones you can influence day to day.
Tiki Biswal, director of sales at HubSpot, says teams need to understand their “sales macros.”
“Most people are familiar with macros, or macronutrients, in the context of healthy eating. In that instance, you track how many carbs, proteins, and fats you eat to better understand what you’re consuming and help you reach your goals,” he explains. “This same thought process applies to sales.”
Biswal says teams should think of metrics and KPIs as their macros. “If you don’t understand what metrics or KPIs you need to overachieve, then you’ll have a hard time gauging your performance,” he continues. “The metrics you need to hit could be vastly different than the other reps on your team.”
“I once had a rep on my team that was ‘doing everything right’ but still missing her quota. We pulled some data and noticed that her discount percentage was 15% higher than everyone else on the team. After some coaching on negotiation and closing, she was able to steadily increase her Average Sales Price,” Biswal recalls.
Your personal benchmarks may differ from those of your peers, so use the KPIs your sales organization tracks to understand where you stand and which behavior to change. AI Guided Selling in Sales Hub can surface prioritized tasks and recommended actions based on buyer and deal context, helping reps focus on the work most likely to move opportunities forward.
5. Set concrete goals.
Ambitious targets can help you raise your sales performance, but only when you turn them into specific actions. Start with a clear sales goal, then define the behaviors and milestones that will show whether you are on track.
Write down what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and when you will review progress. Share relevant goals with your manager or peers so they can help hold you accountable and adjust the plan when the data shows you are off course.
6. Build a personal development plan.
A sales career gives you repeated opportunities to build new skills, but development happens faster when you plan for it.
Create a personal development plan that names one or two sales skills to work on each month, the practice steps you will take, and how you will measure progress. Review the plan regularly to see what has changed and choose the next skill to develop.
If you weren’t given one during onboarding, work with your manager to request a sales training plan to help get you to the next level — particularly if you’re new to a company. Asking your manager to fill out this sales training template for you is a concrete way to show you want to grow in your role.
7. Find a sales coach or mentor.
Sales isn’t always intuitive, especially when you are new to the field. Your manager may not have the time or perspective to cover every skill you want to develop.
A sales coach, mentor, or trusted adviser outside your organization can offer a different perspective on your sales approach. Ask them to help you identify gaps, practice specific situations, and reflect on what you can change.
8. Track your progress.
Track both results and behaviors weekly and monthly to see what is working and where you are falling short. Compare your progress with your own goals and the measures your sales organization uses.
Document wins as well as gaps. That record gives you evidence of progress and helps you choose the next behavior or skill to work on.
9. Be creative with problem-solving.
There is no single path to success in sales, and your ability to think creatively can serve you well in the long run.
Biswal says:
“Your ability to think outside the box could be the difference between winning a massive account or having them ignore your call or email. I’ve found clients appreciate creativity no matter what stage of the sales process you are in.
“One of my favorite examples of creativity is during demo prep. If we are preparing to show a customer how HubSpot is going to revolutionize their blog and newsletter, why not take the time to sign up for their newsletter and receive one of their emails? This takes one minute, and provides relevant information about how we can tangibly improve their process.”
As a sales professional, it’s your job to solve your customers’ problems and help them look good. The more creative you can be in your approach, the better.
10. Celebrate your wins.
A sales career has ups and downs, and many salespeople get too fixated on the “down” side of their performance. Improving your weaknesses matters, but so does celebrating your wins, big and small.
When you hit a goal or improve a skill, share it with your manager or team. Each win can help you recognize what is working and build momentum for the next target.
How to Improve Sales Team Performance
Improving a sales team’s performance includes some elements of the activities listed above — but more people in the process means more variables to manage. Here are some key tactics sales managers can employ to improve sales team performance.
1. Take a people-first approach.
A people-first sales manager learns how each rep works best and what support they need. Use one-on-one conversations, performance data, and the rep’s own self-assessment to understand their strengths, development areas, goals, and work preferences.
Review past performance for context, then ask reps what is helping or blocking them now. That combination gives you a better basis for coaching than assumptions alone and helps reps see how their work connects to the team’s goals.
2. Create a safe space for your team.
Create an environment where people can raise questions, share ideas, and discuss mistakes without fear of ridicule or retaliation. Ask yourself, “Am I making it safe and accessible for people with different backgrounds, communication styles, and abilities to participate?”
Inclusive team norms require deliberate follow-through. Set expectations for respectful discussion, invite perspectives that have not yet been heard, and address behavior that shuts people down.
3. Have and enforce core values within the team.
At HubSpot, core values are integral to how our teams operate. Biswal says, “As sales leaders, we all have ‘non-negotiables’ that we expect from our team — but there needs to be give and take.”
Biswal recommends that teams meet to decide on these core values together.
“Once this list of core values and norms is built, it creates a system of accountability that starts with the sales leader — but gets enforced at the team level. Seeing reps hold one another accountable is especially impactful and helps the group grow together,” Biswal says.
If you’re looking for example core values for your team, Biswal recommends this core values list as a starting point.
4. Analyze relevant team data.
Emma Hogan, a former principal sales manager for HubSpot in Sydney, Australia, was a successful sales rep before moving into management. Her advice is to use the information available at each stage of the deal to identify performance issues.
She says, “Get a consistent deal stage definition. At HubSpot Australia, our salespeople mark their deals in the CRM as Best Case, Most Likely, or Commit, and have clear criteria to help them identify the appropriate Forecast Stages.”
Hogan says this enables Sales Operations to provide forecasting dashboards that predict where team will finish each month based on their pipeline coverage and the forecast stage.
“What’s helpful about this for a sales rep is that it gives them a clear picture in real time where they stand based on the deals they have in play so they can prioritize accordingly. They can decide if they need to focus on building more pipelines or gaining more commitment on their Best Case deals,” Hogan says.
For Hogan and her team, the number of deals created was especially important. “It is important to know how many net new deals a rep needs to create weekly, monthly, and/or quarterly, depending on your business’ operating rhythm, to be successful in their role,” she says.
If you don’t have a sales operations team that has already set the benchmarks for you, use two checks:
- Stay focused on prospecting. Track the number of new opportunities created, lead work rate, and average response time for inbound leads. You can also review leads worked per day and the average number of prospecting touchpoints per lead.
- Compare close rate by rep. Compare each rep’s close rate at the same sales stage with your team’s historical benchmark. A meaningful gap can indicate a qualification, discovery, objection handling, negotiation, or follow-up issue that warrants coaching.
By tracking rep performance early in the sales process, you can catch issues before they show up in lagging results.
connector A CRM can reduce manual reporting by consolidating deal and activity data into a single system. Sales Hub provides sales reporting, pipeline visibility, and forecasting so managers can review team and individual performance without rebuilding the analysis in separate spreadsheets.
5. Have regular one-on-one meetings with each team member.
Regular one-on-one meetings help managers understand why a rep is struggling to move deals or hit quota. Use them to compare the rep’s activity and results with expectations, then ask questions that identify whether the blocker is pipeline, skill, process, time management, or motivation.
These check-ins also give reps space to discuss how they are performing and what support they need. Hogan says, “In one-on-one meetings, when I am trying to understand what is holding someone back from reaching their goals, the right questions need to be asked to determine what the underlying blocker is to building a pipeline.”
Hogan says teams need should determine if an issue relates to montivation, management, or skill. She says, “This should determine the guidance, support, and coaching you provide to help the salesperson remove the blocker.”
Having one-on-one meetings can provide a safe space to work through these scenarios with team members who need varying levels of support.
6. Review business results as a team.
Hankerson offers this advice on reviewing sales data with your team: “Ensure the metrics that you want the salespeople to track are communicated frequently and publicly. This might be regular emails showing sales activity leaderboards or talking through it in a team meeting.
To make this work, Hankerson leaders need to build a culture of transparency, trust, and psychological safety — as well as high performance.
“In this type of environment, salespeople will become used to seeing their sales activity and numbers presented in publicly available channels, and with the right people on board, it should provide a sense of healthy competition to motivate them,” Hankerson says.
To make performance visible, consider gamification elements such as leaderboards, team challenges, milestones, or recognition. Use them to reinforce the behaviors you want, not to replace coaching or create pressure around vanity metrics.
Dashboards can make progress easier to see, while shared challenges can create opportunities for recognition and peer learning. Keep the rules transparent and choose rewards that fit your team.
Pro tip: Spinify integrates with HubSpot data to build real-time leaderboards, competitions, and automated celebrations. This gives managers a way to display performance and recognize milestones without manually updating every result.
7. Create a culture of peer-to-peer coaching.
Improving your team’s performance doesn’t have to fall squarely on your shoulders. If your team structure supports it, pair reps with different levels of experience to build accountability and peer-to-peer coaching.
Less experienced reps can learn from colleagues who have handled similar situations, while experienced reps can build coaching and people-development skills that may help in future management roles.
David Bitton, co-founder of DoorLoop, values peer-to-peer coaching. He says these relationships foster an internal culture where learning is encouraged and celebrated.
“Regularly scheduled ‘knowledge exchanges’ where team members share insights from recent sales experiences can be a game-changer. This peer-to-peer learning can often uncover innovative tactics and approaches that would not emerge in a traditional top-down training session,” Bitton says.
8. Don’t become complacent.
Sales performance needs regular attention. Keep an eye on team KPIs and business conditions so you can respond when results or leading indicators start to shift.
Don’t focus only on your lowest performers. Coach reps who are missing expectations, and keep challenging experienced or high-performing reps so they continue to develop. Celebrate strong work, name what is working, and set the next skill or performance target for each person.
Raise the bar when the data supports it, but keep goals attainable and explain why they matter. Recognition and clear expectations should work together.
9. Set attainable operational objectives.
Break broad organization-wide goals into smaller operational objectives that teams can act on. This gives reps and managers a clearer path from the goal to the work required.
For example, if you want to reduce sales onboarding time, do not stop at “reduce time to onboard a new rep by X%.” Set supporting objectives such as selecting conversation intelligence software for consistent call review, creating a repeatable weekly training agenda, and choosing a training methodology managers can use throughout onboarding.
Operational objectives make progress easier to monitor and give managers specific processes to adjust when results fall short.
10. Hire effective candidates.
Define the job-relevant skills, experience, and behaviors a rep needs to sell your product or service to your target buyers. Use consistent interview criteria to evaluate those competencies, and look for evidence that candidates can collaborate, learn, and contribute to the team’s working norms.
Avoid treating “culture fit,” personality, or deference to a manager as proxies for performance. A stronger hiring process focuses on measurable role requirements and gives candidates a consistent opportunity to demonstrate them.
How to Measure and Track Sales Performance
To measure sales performance, track both leading and lagging indicators. Sales performance metrics translate rep activity and business outcomes into measures you can review over time. HubSpot’s sales metrics guide explains that leading indicators show what may happen next, while lagging indicators show results that have already happened.
Leading indicators are useful for coaching because managers can still influence them during the period. Lagging indicators help you evaluate the result and decide what to change next. Track both so your sales performance analysis connects day-to-day behavior with business outcomes.
Outcome Metrics (Lagging)
- Win rate is the percentage of final-stage prospects that close and become customers in a defined period. Use consistent criteria when comparing results, and see HubSpot’s win-rate guide for calculation details.
- Quota attainmen is the percentage of an individual rep’s or team’s assigned sales target achieved in a defined period. HubSpot’s quota attainment guide defines individual attainment as actual sales divided by quota.
- Average deal size is the average value of closed-won deals in a period, calculated as closed-won revenue divided by the number of closed-won deals.
- Sales cycle length is the average time it takes an opportunity to move from your defined starting point to close.
- Revenue by salesperson is the revenue credited to each rep in a defined period. Compare it with quota, territory, segment, and deal mix before drawing performance conclusions.
- Churn rate is the percentage of customers lost during a defined period. Use a consistent customer base and time period when comparing churn rates.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the revenue a business expects from a customer over the customer relationship. HubSpot’s CLV guide explains common approaches to calculating CLV.
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the average sales and marketing cost required to acquire one new customer. See HubSpot’s CAC guide for the formula.
Activity Metrics (Leading)
- Pipeline coverage is the ratio of open pipeline value to the sales target for the same period. It shows whether the team has sufficient potential revenue to support the target.
- Sales pipeline velocity is a measure of how quickly potential revenue moves through the pipeline. Track it consistently using the same inputs and sales stages; HubSpot’s sales velocity guide explains the calculation.
- Deals created per rep is the number of new sales opportunities a rep adds to the pipeline in a defined period.
- Lead response time is how long it takes a rep to respond to a new lead. Faster response can increase the likelihood that a lead becomes a customer.
Pro tip: Focus on three to five core metrics — a mix of leading and lagging indicators — and review them on a consistent cadence in one shared dashboard. Sales Hub combines sales reporting, activity tracking, forecasting, and pipeline visibility, enabling managers to spot changes and coach before the period closes.
HubSpot’s current sales statistics show an average sales win rate of 21%, making consistent measurement and coaching more useful than chasing a universal benchmark. Compare your team’s results with its own historical performance, segment, deal type, and goals.
Frequently Asked Questions About Sales Performance
What is sales performance?
Sales performance is the effectiveness of a salesperson or sales team at converting sales activity into measurable business results. It includes both outcomes, such as revenue, win rate, and quota attainment, and the activities that drive those outcomes.
How do you measure sales performance?
Measure sales performance with a mix of lagging indicators, such as win rate, quota attainment, and revenue by salesperson, and leading indicators, such as pipeline coverage, deals created, and lead response time. Tracking both shows what has already happened and what may happen next.
What are the 5 key sales performance metrics?
Five commonly tracked sales performance metrics are win rate, quota attainment, average deal size, sales cycle length, and pipeline coverage. Most teams should prioritize three to five core metrics that align with their goals rather than trying to monitor every available metric.
What is sales performance management?
Sales performance management is the process of setting goals, measuring results, coaching reps, and improving sales execution at scale. Sales Hub can centralize reporting, forecasting, and pipeline visibility so managers can see how reps and teams are trending against goals.
Getting Started
Improving sales performance is shared work. Reps need to practice, use feedback, and act on performance data; managers need to set clear expectations, coach consistently, and remove process or resource barriers. Strong onboarding, regular review, and trust help both sides keep improving over time.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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